Writing implement,especially ball-type pen



p 2, 1969 E. 'VETTER 3,464,774

WRITING IMPLEMENT, ESPECIALLY BALL-TYPE PEN Filed Aug. 22, 1967 Z Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR I Sept. 2, 1969 E. VETTER WRITING IMPLEMENT, ESPECIALLY BALL-TYPE PEN Filed Aug. 22, 1967 Z SheetsSheet 2 FIG. 7

FIGS

' INVENTOR: E N s? V {fie r States 3,464,774 WRITDIG IMPLEMENT, ESPECIALLY BALL-TYPE PEN Ernst Vetter, 9 Auf der Beune, 6101 Brensbach, Odenwald, Germany Filed Aug. 22, 1967, Ser. No. 662,407 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 24, 1967, V 33,063 Int. Cl. B43k 7/12, 24/08 US. Cl. 401110 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a writing implement and more particularly to a ball-point pen, which is provided with locking means for locking the writing member in its writing and inoperative positions.

It is a disadvantage of known writing implements of this kind that the manufacture of a control mechanism comprising the afore-mentioned locking means by an injecttion molding process raises some difficulties.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome these difficulties. According to the present invention there is provided a writing implement comprising a housing, an actuating member manually operable against the action of resilient means for axial displacement within the housing and having one portion projecting from the housing, a writing member disposed in the housing and being connected with the actuating member for axial displacement therewith, so that the nib of the writing member can be displaced from a writing position in which it projects from the housing to an inoperative position in which it is enclosed by the housing, and locking means for locking the writing member in its writing and inoperative positions, the locking means including two members which are rotatable and axially displaceable relative to each other, one of said members being located on the pressure actuating member and having two spaced apart toothed portions, the portion remote from the nib of the writing member namely having teeth of alternately varying length, the other said member being located against axial movement within the housing and concentrically about the said one member and having spaced projections adapted to engage the recesses between adjacent teeth on the toothed portions, the two members being arranged so that during axial displacement of the actuating member the projections engage the toothed portions to cause relative rotation between the two members so that the projections associated with the toothed portion remote from the nib of the writing member and having teeth of varying length engage the recesses between adjacent teeth to position the writing member in either the writing or inoperative position in dependance of the depth of the recess engaged by the projections. The pressure actuating member and the locking means can readily be manufactured by injection molding methods. As the two toothed portions of the invention are formed on the outside of the pressure actuating member, the injection molding tool for the manuatent O facture of the actuating member which may be conveniently in the form of a push button is simpler to manufacture than the tool used for the manufacture of the mechanism in which the toothed rims are arranged on the inside of a hollow body as it is the case with the control mechanism of the known writing implements. Relatively thereto, the injection molded articles can be removed from the mold much more readily if the actuating rims are disposed on the periphery of a mechanism part, as is the case with the invention. It is preferred that the member having the projection comprises two annular bodies joined together by means of one or more webs extending parallel to the housing axis. Due to the relatively easy removal from the mold of this member, the injection molding implement for this member may be designated in a relatively simple manner. The manufacture of this member is further facilitated when the projections are arranged in transversely aligned pairs.

In one embodiment of the invention the ends of the projection which engage the toothed portions have inclined surfaces which terminate in a point and which are arranged symmetrically about the axes of the projections. Such an arrangement facilitates the insertion of the member having the projections with the housing during manufacture and also enable automatic machines to be used in the manufacture of the writing implements. In order that it may readily be possible, when assembling the implement, to push the member carrying the projections onto the push button, the member may be manufactured from a resiliently deformable plastics material, so that the structural part may widen out somewhat when it is pushed on in this manner. Widening-out of this kind is also assisted if, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the member having the projections is not solid walled and only the longitudinal webs necessary for holding the two annular members together have been left standing. To further facilitate assembly at least that annular body which, on assembly, is first pushed on to the pressure actuating member is slotted. Due to the elasticity of the plastics material used in the manufacture of the member having the projection, the ability of that member to retain its shape is not detrimentally influenced by the slotting of the two annular bodies. Instead of the slotting or in addition thereto, the inner diameter of the sleeve-shaped actuating member may be widened at the end-side in funnel-like manner, thus also facilitating the pushing-on of this member on to the push button.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows an elevational view of the push button used in the actuating mechanism;

FIGURE 2 shows a development of the two superposed toothed rims;

FIGURE 3 shows an elevational view of the further actuating member which is pushed on the push button shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 shows a longitudinal section through the actuating member according to FIGURE 3 or a section along the line IVIV of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 5 shows a section along the line V-V of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 shows a longitudinal section through the Writing implement, the writing medium carrier being in the Writing position;

FIGURE 7 shows a longitudinal section through the writing implement with the writing medium carrier in the inoperative position.

Referring to the drawings, the writing implement includes two parts 1 and 2 which are screwed together to form a housing in which a ball point pen cartridge 3 is located. A compression spring 5 is located in the housing so that one of its ends bears against a shoulder in the housing while the other end bears against a collar 4 positioned on the cartridge 3. The rear end of the cartridge 3 is inserted in a bore 6 formed in a push button, designated generally by reference numeral 7 and which is located at the end of the housing remote from the ball of the cartridge 3. The push button 7 is arranged to be axially displaceable, together with the cartridge 3, in the housing under or against the force of the spring 5. The design of the pressure pin 7 is shown in detail in FIGURES 1 and 2. Positioned on the periphery of the button 7 are the two toothed rims 8, 9 disposed one above the other. The teeth of the toothed rim 9 are all of the same depth, while those of the toothed rim 8 are arranged so that teeth having relatively deep depth alternate with teeth of shallower depth. The deeper recesses are formed by grooves having lateral delimiting faces extending parallel to each other, so that when the mechanism is actuated, an actuating member as, for instance, shown in FIGURE 3 will require only relatively slight rotation. As can be seen from FIGURE 2, the teeth of the toothed rims 8 and 9 are offset relatively to each other.

Referring now to FIGURES 3 and 5, the actuating member is designated generally by reference numeral 10, and comprises two annular members 11, 12 and which are spaced apart and formed into a unitary structure by means of relatively narrow webs 13, 14. A pair of projections 15' and 15" protruding from the webs 13 and 14 are located at one end of the member on the inside of the annular member 11. Similarly, a second pair of projections 16' and 16" are located at the other end of the member 10 on the inside of the annular member 12 so that the projection 16 is axially aligned with the projection 15". Both the pairs of projections 15', 15" and 16', 16- are arranged substantially diametrically opposite each other. Furthermore each projection of each pair has parallel side surfaces, one surface of each pair lying in a single diametrical plane of the member 10.

The projection 15, 15", 16, 16 each have, at their ends two inclined surfaces 17, 18 which terminate in a gable-shaped point and which co-operate with the toothed rim 8 or 9. The inclination of the surfaces 17, 18 corresponds to that of the walls of the teeth belonging to the rims 8, 9 respectively. If it is not necessary to expect that one of the ends of the actuating member 10 will be pushed selectively onto the button 7, then it will sufiice if the ends of the projections 15, 16 are bevelled in such manner that what is produced is simply an oblique face.

The annular members 11 and 12 are formed with slots 19, 20. The slots 19 and 20 together with the outwardlydirected funnel-shaped projections 21, 22 at either end of the actuating member 10 facilitate the mounting of the member 10 on the button 7. The actuating member 10 is prevented from axial displacement by the shoulders 23 and 24 in the housing. Although the member 10 cannot move axially it is capable of rotating.

The lower rim 9 is associated with the lower projections 16' and 16 and associated with the upper projections 15' and 15" is the upper actuating rim 8.

When the cartridge 3 is in the writing position (FIG- URE 6), the upper projections 15, 1S" engage in the tooth gaps of lesser depth belonging to the toothed rim 8 (cf. FIGURE 6). In the inoperative position, the projections 15', 15" take up their position in the deeper recesses in the toothed rim 8 (cf. FIGURE 7).

If, when the cartridge 3 is in the writing position as shown in FIGURE 6, the button 7 is pressed downwardly against the spring 5, then the teeth of the rim 8 are disengaged from the projections 15, 15". During the downward movement of the button 7, the teeth associated with the toothed rim 9 come into engagement with the lower projections 16', 16 of the actuating member 10 until the projections impinge against the dedendum of these teeth, so that further displacement of the push button 7 is not possible. During this movement, the actuating member 10 has, due to the cooperation of the teeth of the rim 9 with the projections 16', 16", been rotated through a predetermined angle. If the button 7 is then released, then under the force of the spring 5 it is forced back once again into its original position. At the same time, the lower projections 16, 16" are disengaged from the teeth of the rim 9. During further upward movement of the button 7 the teeth of the rim 8 engage the upper projections 15', 1S" and due to the co-operation of the teeth of the rim 8 with the projections 15', 15 the member 10 is further rotated so that the projections 15, 15" engage the deep recessed teeth of the rim 8. The upward movement of the button 7 is limited by the engagement of the projections 15', 15" with the bottom of the deep recessed teeth. In this way, the cartridge 3 has been guided out of the writing position shown in FIGURE 6 back into the at-rest position shown in FIGURE 7. In order to displace the cartridge 3 once again into the writing position, the button 7 is actuated again, so that the above-described steps are repeated with the only difference that the upper projections 15, 15" finally pass into the shallower tooth gaps in the toothed rim 8.

It is also possible to construct the rim 9 similarly to the rim 8, Le. with shallow and deep recesses. In this way, during assembly of the writing implement, either end of the button 7 may be inserted into the housing.

In a modified form the member which is located against axial movement within the housing may be formed integral with the inward facing wall on the housing. Such a modification reduces the number of parts required to manufacture the writing implement.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim 1. A writing implement comprising a housing, an actuating member manually operable against the action of resilient means for axial displacement within the housing and having one portion projecting from the housing at the opposite end of the writing implement from the writing end, a writing member disposed in the housing and being connected with the actuating member for axial displacement therewith so that the nib of the writing member can be displaced from a writing position in which it projects from the housing to an inoperative position in which it is enclosed by the housing, and locking means for locking the writing member in its writing and inoperative positions, the locking means including two members which are rotatable and axially displaceable relative to each other, one of said members being located on the pressure actuating member and forming a single operating unit with said pressure actuating member, and said one member having two spaced apart toothed portions, at least the portion remote from the nib of the writing member having teeth of alternately varying length, the other said member being located against axial movement within the housing and concentrically about the said one member and having spaced projections adapted to engage the recesses between adjacent teeth on the toothed portions, the two members being arranged so that during axial displacement of the actuating member the projections engage the toothed portions to cause relative rotation between the two members so that the projections associated with the toothed portion remote from the nib of the writing member and having teeth of varying length engage the recesses between adjacent teeth to position the writing member in either the writing or inoperative position in dependence on the depth of the recess engaged by the projections, said other member having the spaced projections comprising two annular bodies connected by means of at least one web portion.

2. A writing implement as defined in claim 1, in which the projections are disposed in the regions of the annular bodies.

3. A writing implement as defined in claim 2 in which two projections are disposed on each of said annular bodies, said two projections on each annular body being oppositely arranged and offset with respect to each other, one side of each of said two projections lying substantially in the same imaginary diametrical plane.

4. A writing implement as defined in claim 1 wherein during assembly of the implement, one of said two annular bodies is placed in the actuating member before the other of said two annular bodies is placed therein, at least said one annular body having a slit portion.

5. A writing implement as defined in claim 1, in which the end of the said member having the projections which during assembly is placed first on the actuating member includes an enlarged portion engageable with shoulders in the housing, the interior of said enlarged portion being funnel-shaped.

6. A writing implement as defined in claim 1 in which the projections are arranged in axially aligned pairs and have gable-shaped ends including two inclined surfaces which terminate in a point and which are arranged symmetrically about the axes of the projections.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner 

